Bride of Ninety-Six.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXII, Issue 6607, 28 June 1905, Page 4

Bride of Ninety-Six.

OCTOGfcfIABTAN EMBAEKS ON THIRD HONEYMOON.

I The fact that the united ages of the con- ] tracting parties totalled 182 years oaused much interest to bo taken in a wedding at Penzance. After nearly half a century's service Mr Francis Russell Vincent rotired from the employment of the Bristol Gas Company on a comfortable pension. A ehort time ago, at the age of 86, he travelled to the little village of Ludgvan, near Ptsrizance, to see hia children. There he rm t a sprightly widow named Annie Hacvay, who was within four years of her hundredth birthday. The couple fell in love, and after a brief courtship arranged to get married, and the day was fixed, but owing to an informality the ceremony had to be postponed. Afterwards some of the villagers who disapproved o? the marriage armed themselves with tin cans, and made a noisy demonstration outside the bridegroom's house. The old gentleman was greatly unnoyed, but was unmoved in his determination to get married. The aged couple attpn^ed in due course at the registrar's office, and after their marriage received the cheers of a band of sympathisers. Both bride and bridegroom had been married twice previously. Notwithstanding their great age they are hale and hearty, and capable of walking to Penzance and back, a distance of four mile?. Mr Vincent and his bride are to happy in their newly married life that many Ludgvan villagers have softened their hearts, and now bless what they at first banned. But there is still some amount of opposition to the union. A coterie of illmannered people threatened again to bring out the village orchestra of pans and cans and to disturb the stillness of the evening with discordant noisea in front of the aged couple's house. Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Vincent are quietly ignoring threats, and are peacefully spending the honeymoon by taking walks in the country. They walked nearly eight miles one day—from Ludgvan to Penzance and back. Mrs Vincent is noted as a good walker. Mr Vinoent spends some of his leisure hours in making zinc models. Recently he completed an elaborate and artistic bird cage, for which he was offered £101). He refused, however, to sell it, and sent it as a present to his son, who lives in Portsmouth.